Cyprus Greeks and Turks Agree On Plan to End 40-Year Conflict

By WARREN HOGE

Published: February 14, 2004

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13—
Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Friday accepted Secretary General Kofi Annan's plan for ending the decades-long division of Cyprus and pledged to negotiate reunification in time for the island's May 1 entry into the European Union.

The deal between the Greek Cypriot president, Tassos Papadopoulos, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Rauf Denktash, was reached after three days of talks at the United Nations, and brought forth expressions of hope that a solution to one of the world's most intractable conflicts was at hand.

''I really believe that after 40 years, a political settlement is at last in reach,'' Mr. Annan said in announcing the pact.

Thomas G. Weston, the United States special coordinator for Cyprus since 1999, said, ''It is almost certain now that there will be a settlement on the island of Cyprus.''

Interviewed after meeting with Mr. Annan, he said: ''There have been numerous attempts in the past, and they all led to failure until today. Now we have the procedure and methodology which has given us exceptionally strong prospects to reach agreement before Cyprus enters the European Union.''

If successful, the plan will put an end to a stalemate that on a number of occasions brought Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, to the verge of war and, in 1974, to a conflict that ended with the division of the island.

With Cyprus scheduled to join the European Union on May 1, pressures to end the standoff grew increasingly intense. Unless reunification was achieved, only the Greek Cypriot government would be entitled to enter.

That reality focused negotiators, with Turkey in particular lending strong backing to the last-ditch effort, well aware that failure in Cyprus would jeopardize its own active candidacy to become the first Muslim nation to join the union.

Mr. Annan had invested substantial personal capital in breaking the impasse on the Mediterranean island, and the arrangement makes him the final binding arbiter of any last-minute disagreements on what is known as ''the Annan plan.''

According to the plan, the two sides will reconvene on Thursday in Cyprus under a tight timetable calling for them to agree by March 22 on reunification language that can be put to simultaneous island-wide referendums in April.

Technical committees on laws and treaties will work out details, also starting next week, and the United Nations will preside over a separate committee on the financial and economic aspects of reunification.

If the two parties are unable to reach agreement themselves, the pact calls for Turkey and Greece to enter the talks. If differences still persist by March 29, Mr. Annan will have the power ''to fill in the blanks,'' according to United Nations diplomats. The proposed date of the referendums is April 21.

''Very much as a last resort, the secretary general, with reluctance, will have the last word,'' said Álvaro de Soto, the Peruvian diplomat who is Mr. Annan's special adviser on Cyprus and who will lead next week's talks. He said he believed that the parties had the will and resources to complete the settlement themselves, and he ''devoutly'' hoped that Mr. Annan's intervention would not be necessary.

Hostilities between Cyprus's Greek and Turkish populations have required United Nations peacekeepers on the island since 1964 and led to formal division in 1974, when Turkey seized the island's northern third in response to a pro-Greek coup seeking to unify Cyprus with Greece. In 1983, the breakaway state became the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized internationally only by Turkey, which keeps 30,000 troops there.

An intensive round of reunification talks under Mr. Annan last year produced a United Nations blueprint for a single state with Greek and Turkish Cypriot federated regions, but it collapsed in April when Mr. Denktash refused to put it to a vote of his people and balked at the appointment of Mr. Annan as a final arbiter.

Last week, the secretary general invited the two sides to New York to make a last try before the pending European Union entry, and he received strong outside backing from the United States, a supporter of Turkey's European aspirations, and the three so-called guarantor nations: Greece, Turkey and Britain.

''The agreement is the result of cooperative efforts among the parties, particularly Greece and Turkey, who have not always exercised such cooperative efforts in the past,'' Mr. Weston said. He confirmed reports that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had been in direct contact with the principal parties in recent days as the talks appeared to falter.

Mr. Denktash, accused of obstructionism in the past, surprised the negotiators by dropping his objection to Mr. Annan's role as final judge and by saying his main demand was more active involvement in the later stages by Turkey and Greece. ''We were impressed this time that there was a different mind-set,'' Mr. de Soto said.

But Mr. Papadopoulos came back with a demand that the European Union itself become an active participant in the talks, a request that was dismissed as meddlesome by the Turkish side.

Athens, Ankara, London and Washington engaged in busy overnight diplomacy, and a European Union official in Brussels said Friday that they had no interest in becoming directly involved, thus taking the air out of the Greek Cypriot proposal.

The statement read by Mr. Annan on Friday promised only ''assurances of the European Union to accommodate a settlement and the offer of technical assistance by the European Commission.''

Chart: ''One Cyprus'' The division and reunification of Cyprus. 1960 -- Independence from Britain with a powersharing constitution between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. 1964 -- Power-sharing crumbles amid fighting; government formed without Turkish Cypriots. U.N. peacekeeping force is sent. 1967 -- Military seizes power in Greece. 1974 -- Greek military junta backs coup against Greek Cypriot president; after the coup collapses, Turkish forces occupy the northern third of the island. 1975 -- Turkey declares territory Turkish Federated State of Cyprus. 1983 -- Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, declares the breakaway state, the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus. It is recognized only by Turkey. 1998 -- Government of Cyprus begins European Union accession talks. 1999-2000 -- U.N.-led talks end without a clear outcome. 2002 -- Reunification talks fail. U.N. presents peace plan calling for a single state with federated Greek and Turkish regions. 2003 -- U.N. deadline for plan passes without result. Cyprus signs accession treaty with European Union for entry on May 1, 2004. 2004 -- The Turkish Cypriot enclaves new government wins a vote of confidence, setting the stage for a push to end the division. YESTERDAY -- Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders accept a U.N. plan for reunifying Cyprus. (pg. A8) Map of Cyprus highlighting the areas to be reunified. (pg. A8)